DUI checkpoint moved from Pacific Beach

Police say checkpoint moved to downtown to 'spread enforcement wealth'

PACIFIC BEACH  A DUI checkpoint planned for the Fourth of July weekend in Pacific Beach, where police frequently net a large number of intoxicated drivers, was called off by department brass, a traffic officer reported to the community’s planning group.

Officer Mark McCullough, who organizes patrols to catch drunken drivers throughout San Diego, told the Pacific Beach Planning Group Wednesday that his superiors instructed him to “spread the enforcement wealth” over the holiday weekend.

“We were asked to tone down our enforcement stance in (Pacific Beach),” McCullough said in response to questions about the checkpoint from community residents and activists seeking to restrict local businesses from receiving licenses to sell alcohol.

San Diego cops turned out for Pacific Beach saturation patrols in lieu of the checkpoint, the officer explained.

McCullough said he expected that if the checkpoint were used, police would have detained and processed 18 to 27 drunken drivers. He said the Pacific Beach checkpoint, commonly held on Grand Avenue near a Chase Bank parking lot, is frequently more successful than similar operations in downtown San Diego’s entertainment district. Police manpower slated for use in the beach- side community over the Independence Day weekend was diverted to the downtown area, where a total of 31 motorists were arrested at checkpoints for driving under the influence, according to police reports.

Twenty-five drunken drivers were arrested at an April 16 checkpoint in Pacific Beach, a relatively large single-night haul compared with other non-holiday checkpoints held in the city, police news reports show. A downtown checkpoint held April 29 ended with 15 drivers arrested for DUI.